Record global sales for Ziehl-Abegg

The motor and fan manufacturer Ziehl-Abegg has reported another year of higher than average growth as the company provisionally increased sales by 8.1% to EUR584-million (R8.9-billion); compared with EUR540-million (R8.2-billion) the previous year.

The sales figures are driven mainly by the strong growth of the fan business in the ventilation technology sector. The company, based in southern Germany has once again succeeded in growing sales organically, without any acquisitions.

The commencement of in-house composite material production represents a milestone in the company's history. Highly sophisticated tools enable it to achieve complex geometries in synthetic material fans.

“This enables us to improve the way we transfer knowledge from the natural world to our products,” says CEO Peter Fenkl, explaining the company’s bionic approach. According to Fenkl, “Bionics help us to further improve our products’ carbon footprint.”

One of the benefits for customers is that Ziehl-Abegg offers three technologies in-house – steel, aluminium and composite material. “This sets us apart from our competitors.

“We are seeing two effects: in emerging countries, the impetus is coming from new building construction, whereas in countries like Germany, sales are shifting to the retrofitting and improvement of existing plants in old buildings,” adds Fenkl, which applies to both ventilation and drive technology.